3 ms·
If not for locked bootloaders, it would be trivial for everyone to recover all of the data that this bug is affecting.
by josephcsible 3y ago
If not for locked bootloaders, it would be trivial for everyone to recover all of the data that this bug is affecting.
- gruez 3y agoLocked boot loaders are there for a reason though. Otherwise anyone with 2 minutes of physical access to your device can permanently compromise it.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoIf the bootloader is unlocked, it's only permanent until you reflash it. Also, there are options between "user has no control" and "totally unsecured bootloader" (ex. user-provided keys)
- gruez 3y ago>If the bootloader is unlocked, it's only permanent until you reflash it. That's very vendor specific. Of the android phones I've owned none of them exhibited that behavior. You could flash and reflash without re-unlocking. It only gets locked if you issue an explicit lock command. >Also, there are options between "user has no control" and "totally unsecured bootloader" (ex. user-provided keys) There are good reasons to have unlockable boot loaders, but this case specifically (ie. data loss from when your phone bootloops) isn't one of them. For one, do you really expect the average user to generate their own keys, reconfigure their bootloaders, and resign their roms? Even if they could pull it off that effort would surely be better spent setting up an actual backup solution, which would protect against other hazards that an unlocked boot loader would not (eg. phone falling into the ocean).
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago> You could flash and reflash without re-unlocking. It only gets locked if you issue an explicit lock command. Slight miscommunication; I was intending to address the specific security threat of "attacker has (temporary) physical access and flashes something malicious onto the phone's root filesystem (anything from a complete ROM to a kernel module or background process that autostarts and runs as root every boot)", in which case the user can just re-flash the phone's non-encrypted partitions from known-good images and be on their merry way. > do you really expect the average user to generate their own keys, reconfigure their bootloaders, and resign their roms Fair; it's unlikely for most users.
- gruez 3y ago>in which case the user can just re-flash the phone's non-encrypted partitions from known-good images and be on their merry way. And what if you're asleep/away/busy and don't notice your phone was hacked?
- NelsonMinar 3y agoSo which is the bigger practical risk in 2023? A person physically taking your phone and compromising it? Or a software update making your phone unusable and possibly suffer catastrophic data loss?
- gruez 3y agoYes. Note that the person in question doesn't have to be a random mugger on the street. It could be a suspicious spouse, nosey coworker, or a voyeuristic phone technician.
- altfredd 3y agoWhat "suspicious spouse"? If someone has personal computer and can sift data off phone via something like usb connection, they are probably either state level adversary or professional black hat. At this point you may as well give up, because those people have access to (years old) 0-day exploits, which work flawlessly regardless of "security measures" used by phone manufacturer.